Car parking charges in Worthing town centre are to rise again a year after they were cut as an election promise.

Worthing councillors last night agreed to increase the price of staying at the town's car parks by 10p to help generate more cash.

The move is an embarrassing u-turn for the Conservative ruling group, which cut prices by 10p a year ago as part of its 1999 local election manifesto.

The cut is estimated to have cost the council about £100,000 in lost revenue and the proposed new increase is expected to recoup only about £40,000 of that.

The aim of the cut was to try and encourage more drivers to shop in the town centre rather than travel to Brighton, Crawley or Chichester.

But the increase in numbers has failed to materialise and the council now has to look at other ways to raise the lost £60,000.

Environmental services committee vice-chairman Kit Wingate said: "When we made the cut last year we had hoped we would recoup the cost through an increase in the number of visitors using the car parks as they were now cheaper to use.

"Unfortunately this has not been the case and shows that it is not the price of car parks that is making shoppers stay away from the town centre.

"We had to try the scheme and unfortunately it has not worked but we believed it was worth trying to do.

"We now have to concentrate on other ways to encourage shoppers to come to Worthing, such as improving its appearance and range of stores, and these are already in the pipeline."

Opposition Lib Dem leader John Lovell said: "I said a year ago that cutting the car park prices would only cost the council a lot of money and nothing else. My only concern now is that it is probably the council taxpayer who will have to suffer for it."

Car parks affected include Grafton, Buckingham Road and the High Street multi-storeys, and sites at the Beach House, Alinora Crescent and the town hall.